U.S. drug developer Novavax Inc said on Monday that it is starting a mid-stage study of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa, as the country experiences a surge in coronavirus cases.



The Phase 2b trial study of NVX-CoV2373 will be conducted on about 2,665 healthy adults and will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity in about 240 medically stable, HIV-positive adults, the company said in a statement&nbsp;<a href="https://reut.rs/3g0sRzb.">reut.rs/3g0sRzb.</a>



“Because South Africa is experiencing a winter surge of COVID-19 disease, this important Phase 2b clinical trial has the potential to provide an early indication of efficacy, along with additional safety and immunogenicity data for NVX-CoV2373,” said Novavax research chief Gregory Glenn.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GettyImages-1189261957-1110x767.jpg" alt="Bill Gates: ‘I wish I had done more’ to warn world about pandemic danger" class="wp-image-371281"/><figcaption>Bill Gates: ‘I wish I had done more’ to warn world about pandemic danger (Photo by Hou Yu/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



South Africa is fifth worst affected country with 583,653 coronavirus cases and 11,677 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.



The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation is providing a $15 million grant towards the clinical trial, the company said.



Novavax said it intends to initiate the Phase 2 portion of this trial in the United States and Australia in the near future and that it would include about 1,500 candidates.



Earlier this month, Glenn told Reuters the company would start much larger late-stage clinical trials soon and could potentially glean enough data to obtain regulatory approvals as early as December.



The U.S. government in July had awarded Novavax $1.6 billion to cover testing and manufacturing of a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus in the United States with the aim of delivering a 100 million doses by January.



Last month, AstraZeneca said late-stage trials of its experimental drug AZD1222, which is developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, are under way in Brazil and South Africa and due to start in the United States, where prevalence is higher.

Clarification on COVID-19 “hotspots” as SA moves to level 3 lockdown

Novavax begins mid-stage study of COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa

Report by Taylor Locke



Everyone has their own way of relieving pandemic stress – Bethenny Frankel, for example organizes her home, while Kevin O’Leary takes long bike rides.



For billionaire <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/news/2020/05/15/bill-gates-i-wish-i-had-done-more-to-warn-world-about-pandemic-danger/">Bill Gates</a>, reading and watching TV and movies helps “stem the tide” of anxiety amid the <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/06/01/covid-19-lock-down-this-is-how-much-sas-alcohol-ban-cost-the-economy/">Covid-19</a> pandemic, he said in a blog post on May 18.



“I’m often asked about what I am reading and watching—either because people want to learn more about pandemics, or because they are looking for a distraction,” wrote Gates.



Gates has long been involved in global health research and whose Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has donated over $250 million toward Covid-19 relief efforts. (Gates has also been the butt of meritless Covid-19 conspiracy theories.)



“Lately, people have been asking me for movies and shows I’d recommend during this difficult period,” he said.



Here is Gates’ list of “Movies and shows for when you need a break,” including everything from comedies to crime dramas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">‘Spy Game’</h2>



“On the much more escapist front, a few weeks ago I re-watched one of my favorite movies, ‘Spy Game,’” Gates wrote of the 2001 action movie starring Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.



“Not a lot of people have heard of ‘Spy Game,’ but I’ve probably seen it 12 times,” he said.



The thriller follows a veteran CIA agent whose protege is arrested in China for espionage, but “it has lots of good surprises, so I don’t want to spoil the plot for you,” he wrote.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">‘A Million Little Things,’ ‘This Is Us’ and ‘Ozark’</h2>



Next, Gates recommends three of the drama series that he and his wife, Melinda, “are keeping up with”: ABC’s “A Million Little Things,” NBC’s “This Is Us,” and Netflix’s “Ozark.” 



“A Million Little Things” follows a group of friends (played by Romany Malco, David Giuntoly, Grace Park, among others) bonding and reflecting on their lives after a close friend dies by suicide.&nbsp;



“This Is Us,” stars Milo Ventimiglia, Mandy Moore, Justin Hartley, Chrissy Metz and Sterling K. Brown and&nbsp;chronicles the ups and downs in the lives of the Pearson family from the 1980s and into the future.



“Ozark” stars Jason Bateman as a father who flees with his family to Missouri after laundering money, where he and his wife, played by Laura Linney, start a new life of crime.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">“Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak”</h2>



Gates had been consistently warning of a looming pandemic for years before the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, reared its ugly head.



In fact, Gates’ foundation has funded one of the influenza <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/southern-africa/2020/05/19/ipasas-konji-sebati-on-the-global-search-for-the-covid-19-vaccine/">vaccine</a> start-ups featured in “Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak.” 



“This documentary series on Netflix introduces you to four people who are working super-hard in different parts of the world to prevent epidemics,” he said.



Since the series was filmed “some time ago,” i.e., pre-Covid-19, it focuses on the flu, which was previously “widely regarded as the most likely culprit for a big outbreak,” according to Gates.



“But ‘Pandemic’ still gives you a sense of the inspiring work that heroic doctors, researchers, and aid workers are doing to prevent the very thing we’re all going through right now.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">“I, Claudius”</h2>



Last, Gates recommends something on his own “to watch” list.



“I’m planning to finally watch ‘I, Claudius’—a 1970s BBC series set during the Roman empire—after reading a rave review in The Economist,” he wrote. 



The series highlights the reigns of the Roman emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula and Claudius, based on the novel by Robert Graves. Claudius narrates the drama, with the series told by his point of view.



“I’ve read a lot about the Roman times, but this series sounds like an interesting look at the era.”



Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.



This article was first published on CNBC Make It <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/28/bill-gates-recommends-movies-and-tv-shows-for-when-you-need-a-break.html?__source=newsletter%7Cmakeit">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/28/bill-gates-recommends-movies-and-tv-shows-for-when-you-need-a-break.html?__source=newsletter%7Cmakeit</a> and is republished with its permission.



For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a>

Billionaire Bill Gates: 6 movies and TV shows to help relieve pandemic stress

Report by Kathleen Elkins



Self-made billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates doesn’t recommend many business books.



“In my experience, it is rare to find one that really captures what it’s like to build and operate an organization or that has tips you could really put into practice,” he writes on his blog, GatesNotes.



But there’s a new business book that, unlike most others, is actually worth your time, he says: “The Ride of a Lifetime” by former Disney CEO Robert Iger. Gates has already suggested the 2019 memoir to a handful of friends and colleagues, including current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.



Iger, who took over Disney in 2005 and retired in 2020, “does a great job explaining what it is like to be a CEO,” writes Gates. He’s “able to take you inside the workings of a massive media company and show how he thought about building on its strengths and shoring up its weaknesses.”



Even if you don’t have any interest in the business world, it’s entertaining and worthwhile, he adds. “I think anyone would enjoy this book, whether they’re looking for business insights or just want a good read by a humble guy who rose up the corporate ladder to successfully run one of the biggest companies in the world.”



While Gates praises it as “one of the best business books I’ve read in several years,” it’s not his No. 1. His all-time favorite remains “Business Adventures” by John Brooks. “Whenever someone asks me to recommend one book on business, that’s the one I suggest most often,” Gates says. 



A lot has changed in the business world since the 1960s, when the book was originally published, but the fundamentals of building a strong organization have not, says Gates. Brooks’ insights are just as relevant today.



This article was first published on CNBC Make It <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/31/which-business-book-is-bill-gates-recommending-to-colleagues.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/31/which-business-book-is-bill-gates-recommending-to-colleagues.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

The business book billionaire Bill Gates wants you to read right now

Report by Tom Huddleston Jr.



In the months since the novel <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/05/15/covid-19-this-is-what-new-normal-may-look-like-for-commercial-banks/">coronavirus</a> started spreading across the world, <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/special-report/2019/10/09/bill-gates-has-a-brilliant-method-for-making-decisions-and-he-says-its-similar-to-warren-buffetts/">Bill Gates</a> has been one of the most outspoken public figures with regards to the global response to the pandemic.



However, Gates says he wishes he had “done more” to warn the world about the potential dangers of a <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/05/15/how-covid-19-is-transforming-the-way-learning-institutions-operate/">global pandemic</a> before coronavirus became one of the biggest <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/videos/2020/05/11/life-healthcare-ceo-on-h1-results-covid-19-impact-on-business/">public health</a> issues in decades. The pandemic has already killed nearly 290,000 people globally, including more than 80,000 in the U.S.



“I wish I had done more to call attention to the danger,” Gates said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal published Monday.



To be fair, in addition to being a regular presence in television and podcast interviews about the pandemic in recent months, the billionaire and Microsoft co-founder was also on the record with warnings about the grave dangers presented by mass pandemics years before the Covid-19 outbreak.



For instance, Gates gave a TED Talk speech in 2015 warning people that an infectious virus was a greater risk to humanity than nuclear war, and he regularly called for world governments to step up their pandemic response plans.



(And Gates and his wife Melinda even shored up their own pandemic plans. “A number of years ago, we talked about, ‘What if there wasn’t clean water? What if there wasn’t enough food? Where might we go? What might we do as a family?’” Melinda Gates told BBC Radio Live in April. “We had prepared, and had some food in the basement in case needed&#8230;.”)



Still, Gates now says he wishes he’d been more outspoken to successfully convince world leaders about the potential for a “once-in-a-century pathogen” — which he now believes SARS-CoV-2 to be — to wreak havoc on the world.



“I feel terrible,” he told the Journal. “The whole point of talking about it was that we could take action and minimize the damage.”



Instead, Gates has been unsatisfied with government responses to the pandemic, which he predicted in one recent interview will end up costing the world “tens of trillions of dollars.” The billionaire has been particularly critical of the U.S. response to coronavirus.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="How Hand Sanitizer Sales Spike During Pandemics" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2XKsNLHBLTk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



In March, Gates said the U.S. “did not act fast enough” in its response to the pandemic to avoid taking extreme measures, such as shutting down businesses and issuing stay-at-home orders to millions of Americans. And, in April, Gates chimed in with his belief that President Donald Trump’s decision to defund the <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/article/2020/05/14/covid-19-who-africa-head-moeti-stands-firm-over-madagascar-medicine/">World Health Organization (WHO)</a> is “as dangerous as it sounds.” 



Gates’ critical comments, as well as his years-old comments about the dangers of a global pandemic, have even put him in the cross-hairs of conspiracy theorists — some of whom have made unfounded claims that he’s seeking to profit from the pandemic, or that he knew about coronavirus years before it appeared, or even that he wants to implant the global population with vaccine microchips.



Meanwhile, the billionaire has also put his philanthropic efforts to work to help combat the pandemic’s spread. The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has already committed more than $300 million to help fund the development of coronavirus treatments and vaccines.



“I’m putting hundreds of millions of the foundation’s money into this,” Gates told the Journal. “But it’s really a governmental thing, just like the defense budget is there to help with an outbreak of war.”



While Gates says that many of the world leaders he spoke to about the dangers of a large-scale viral outbreak were sympathetic to his argument, he still wishes he’d been able to convince them to act sooner and put strategic plans into place that would accelerate the development of treatments and vaccines in the event of a pandemic.



“I wish the warnings that I and other people gave had led to more coordinated global action,” he said.



Gates added: “My hope now is that leaders around the world, who are responsible for protecting their citizens, will take what has been learned from this tragedy and invest in systems to prevent future outbreaks.”



This article was first published on CNBC Make It <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/12/bill-gates-wishes-hed-done-more-to-warn-about-pandemic-danger.html?forYou=true">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/12/bill-gates-wishes-hed-done-more-to-warn-about-pandemic-danger.html?forYou=true</a> and is republished with its permission.



For more coverage on COVID-19 visit: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/">https://www.cnbcafrica.com/covid-19/</a>

Bill Gates: ‘I wish I had done more’ to warn world about pandemic danger

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/tom-popomaronis/"> Tom Popomaronis, Contributor</a> <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://twitter.com/tpopomaronis" target="_blank">@TPOPOMARONIS</a> 



The holiday season is a perfect time to focus on gratitude and giving, but choosing&nbsp;what&nbsp;to give your loved ones can be stressful (even with the vast amount of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/25/best-gift-for-millennials-according-to-therapist-and-its-not-money.html" class="">gift guides</a>&nbsp;out there).



But you can’t really go wrong with books — especially the ones <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/10/billionaire-bill-gates-favorite-books-in-2019-and-list-of-top-recommended-books-this-decade.html">recommended</a> by <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/why-billionaires-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-this-is-the-best-business-book-of-all-time.html">Bill Gates</a>. And while the Microsoft co-founder has <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/10/billionaire-bill-gates-favorite-books-in-2019-and-list-of-top-recommended-books-this-decade.html">shared hundreds of his favorite reads</a>, there’s one in particular that has been given the ultimate seal of approval: <a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Rosie-Project" target="_blank">“The Rosie Project,”</a> by Graeme Simsion.



Gates was introduced to the book by his wife Melinda, who “kept stopping to recite parts of it out loud” to him, he said in a 2016&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/fashion/bill-gates-gates-notes-books.html?_r=0" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">interview with The New York Times</a>. “Eventually, I decided to take a look. I started it one night at 11:00 p.m. and stayed up with it until 3:00 a.m.”



Simsion’s debut novel centers around Don Tillman, a geneticist who may or may not have Asperger’s Syndrome. Determined to find a suitable wife, he creates a double-sided, 16-page questionnaire to help complete the mission.



I must have given ‘The Rosie Project’ to at least 50 friends.- Bill Gates PHILANTHROPIST AND MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER



“The book is less about genetics or thinking too logically or the main character’s hilarious journey than it is about getting inside the mind and heart of someone a lot of people see as odd — and discovering that he isn’t really that different from anybody else,” Gates wrote in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Rosie-Effect" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">his review</a>. “It’s an extraordinarily clever, funny, and moving book about being comfortable with who you are and what you’re good at.”



Gates also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Rosie-Project" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">called it</a>&nbsp;“one of the best novels” he’s read in a long time, which is quite the praise coming from someone who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/fashion/bill-gates-gates-notes-books.html?_r=0" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">doesn’t read a lot of fiction</a>. In fact, Gates thought it was so good that he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Rosie-Effect" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">gifted it to at least 50 friends.</a>



So if you’re looking for a way to simplify your holiday shopping plan this year, taking a cue from the successful billionaire and sending a copy of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rosie-Project-Novel-Graeme-Simsion/dp/1442370904" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">“The Rosie Project”</a>&nbsp;to everyone on your list might not be such a bad idea. (Gift-givers who want to go the extra mile should consider throwing in Simsion’s sequel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rosie-Effect-Novel-Graeme-Simsion/dp/1476767327" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">“The Rosie Effect,”</a>&nbsp;which Gates and his wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Rosie-Effect" class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">said they&nbsp;also enjoyed</a>.)



According to Gates, not only will “The Rosie Project” make readers laugh, cry and think, but its main character offers something that virtually anyone can relate to: “We all have powerful fears, and seeing them in Don makes you feel like you’re not the only one.”



<a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_in_tpopomaronis_&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;m=P_Ys4FkTrXS6d3lDujeEcG0RASS_Te__ciXliHG8uo0&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=rHzz9dkDjfkID7To9v-Lu83SKuT7yQyc4bQT7r89G-o&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;e=" target="_blank">Tom Popomaronis</a> is a leadership researcher, commerce expert, cross-industry innovation leader and VP of Innovation at <a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.massivealliance.com&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;m=P_Ys4FkTrXS6d3lDujeEcG0RASS_Te__ciXliHG8uo0&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;s=MAZG4XFe5vj2XGn8I5ATujLEG6mysjDhAM2R5QnyNpQ&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;e=" target="_blank">Massive Alliance</a>. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, Inc. and The Washington Post. In 2014, Tom was named one of the “40 Under 40” by the <a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/" target="_blank">Baltimore Business Journal</a>. Follow him on <a class="" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tpopomaronis/" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a>.



This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/billionaire-bill-gates-loved-this-book-so-much-he-gave-it-as-a-gift-to-50-friends.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/13/billionaire-bill-gates-loved-this-book-so-much-he-gave-it-as-a-gift-to-50-friends.html</a> and is republished with its permission

Bill Gates: This book was so good, ‘I stayed up with it until 3 a.m.’—then gifted it to 50 friends

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/06/bill-gates-measures-his-quality-of-life-by-asking-himself-3-questions.html" class="">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;takes risks that very few people in this world will.



He took a risk in 1975, when he dropped out of Harvard to build Microsoft. In 2008, he took a risk in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/who-we-are/general-information/history" class="">leaving Microsoft to work full-time&nbsp;</a>at The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation.



And in 2013, he took another gamble, when his foundation contributed to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Our-Plan-to-Eradicate-Polio" class="">$5.5 billion initiative</a>&nbsp;to tackle one of the most ambitious public-health goals ever set: eradicating polio.



Those big bets have paid off — polio still remains a problem in certain parts of the world, but significant improvements, such as the development of effective vaccinations, have been made since Gates got involved — which proves that taking big risks and achieving great success can go hand in hand.



But how does one determine which risks are worth taking, and which ones aren’t?



That’s a question the Microsoft co-founder explored in a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.gatesnotes.com_About-2DBill-2DGates_A-2Dbet-2Don-2Dhumanity&amp;amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;amp;m=aAhBNd8-lxFKI-iBj-f-xL-V9DkaRQmJJjFwWmVYjQ8&amp;amp;s=yr5av7X0mps5r8cax_JevdltRMUuNVxvHIfp3fiANMw&amp;amp;e=" class="">blog post</a>, in which he talks about Netflix’s new series,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80184771" class="">“Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.”</a>&nbsp;A major theme in the documentary is Gates’ willingness to invest time and money into projects that have no guarantee of success.



“Watching the series got me thinking about what the word ‘risk’ really means,” Gates wrote in his post. “Whether we invest $100,000 or $100 million, the decision is always calculated. I spend a lot of time thinking, analyzing data and talking to experts to judge whether we can really help make a difference.”



But Gates says no matter how much analysis one does, it’s important to be comfortable with uncertainty. “We are tackling problems where progress is measured not just in years, but often decades — where your end goal doesn’t change, but your path to get there might have to.”



Gates’ trick to being comfortable with uncertainty, he explained, is to continue learning and be open to new strategies that can bring him closer to his goals. “That approach has guided every big bet I’ve made in my career from Microsoft to today, including polio.”



A willingness to take risks is important, but Gates emphasized another key point: a good bet is based on proper models, not a hunch. In the decision to take on polio, Gates said he had a model in mind, and that model was the history of smallpox: the only human disease ever successfully wiped out.



Ultimately, Gates said his approach to taking risks is “very similar to what Warren Buffett does when he makes an investment on on a bet, that it will be worth 10 times as much down the road.”



“Warren spends a lot of time looking for a company that has great long-term prospects. Then he makes a big investment and holds it for many years,” Gates explained. “He’s famous for staying the course through market gyrations and economic cycles.”



Like Buffett, Gates also picks his projects carefully, looking for ones that will make a difference and create better lives for generations to come. Analyzing whether achieving a certain goal can really help make a difference is what Gates loves most about his job: “I’m never happier than when I’m diving deep into the details of a problem.”



Of course, deciding what risks to take is never easy. “I also feel pressure to make every dollar and every day count,” he wrote. “I say no to a lot more opportunities than I say yes to.”



<a class="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_in_tpopomaronis_&amp;amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;amp;m=P_Ys4FkTrXS6d3lDujeEcG0RASS_Te__ciXliHG8uo0&amp;amp;s=rHzz9dkDjfkID7To9v-Lu83SKuT7yQyc4bQT7r89G-o&amp;amp;e=">Tom Popomaronis</a>&nbsp;is a commerce expert, cross-industry innovation leader and Vice President of Innovation at&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.massivealliance.com&amp;amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;amp;m=P_Ys4FkTrXS6d3lDujeEcG0RASS_Te__ciXliHG8uo0&amp;amp;s=MAZG4XFe5vj2XGn8I5ATujLEG6mysjDhAM2R5QnyNpQ&amp;amp;e=">Massive Alliance</a>. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company and The Washington Post. In 2014, he was named one of the “40 Under 40” by the Baltimore Business Journal.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/28/bill-gates-brilliant-method-for-taking-risks-is-like-how-warren-buffett-invests.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/28/bill-gates-brilliant-method-for-taking-risks-is-like-how-warren-buffett-invests.html</a>&nbsp;and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates has a brilliant method for making decisions—and he says it’s ‘similar to Warren Buffett’s’

By Taylor Locke 



Everyone has the same amount of time in a day as people like <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/elon-musk/">Elon Musk</a>, who is CEO of not just Tesla, but also SpaceX, The Boring Company and Neuralink, and <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/jack-dorsey/">Jack Dorsey</a>, who is CEO of both Twitter and Square.



So how do such busy billionaire founders like Musk and Dorsey manage their days? Here are Musk’s, Dorsey’s and other successful business leaders’ tips on maximizing productivity.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Jack Dorsey has meetings from a Google Doc</h2>



Research has shown that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/jeff-bezos-mark-cuban-and-elon-musk-all-avoid-meetings.html" class="">most managers believe meetings kill productivity</a>: 65% of senior managers say meetings keep them from completing their own work, according to a survey from&nbsp;<a href="https://hbr.org/2017/07/stop-the-meeting-madness" class="">Harvard Business School and Boston University</a>, and 71% of 182 managers surveyed said they find meetings to be unproductive and inefficient.



When it comes to meetings, Jack Dorsey has a non-traditional approach that he believes speeds up the critical thinking process, as&nbsp;<a href="https://resume.io/productivity-lessons-from-successful-founders" class="">Resume.io points out</a>.



“Most of my meetings are now Google doc-based, starting with 10-minutes of reading and commenting directly in the doc,” Dorsey tweeted in 2018. “This practice makes time for everyone to get on same page, allows us to work from many locations, and gets to truth/critical thinking faster.”



<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Most of my meetings are now Google doc-based, starting with 10-minutes of reading and commenting directly in the doc. This practice makes time for everyone to get on same page, allows us to work from many locations, and gets to truth/critical thinking faster. Good thread 👇🏼 <a href="https://t.co/YRsxT3kMAZ">https://t.co/YRsxT3kMAZ</a>&mdash; jack 🌍🌏🌎 (@jack) <a href="https://twitter.com/jack/status/987163806781472768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>



The social media exec referenced a Twitter thread by Steven Sinofsky, the former Windows Division President at Microsoft, to support his Google Doc method. Sinofsky explained the potential up-side to writing during meetings as opposed to traditional ones.



“Writing is more inclusive,” Sinofsky said. “It is easier to contribute, doesn’t reward bullies and bulls&#8212;ers, and allows for contemplation.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Elon Musk eliminates excessive meetings</h2>



Elon Musk starts his day with his most critical work and schedules the rest of his day based on priority.



“Focus on signal over noise,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Qh-vwpYH8&amp;amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;amp;t=3m30s" class="">Musk said at the University of Southern California Commencement Speech</a>&nbsp;in 2014. “Don’t waste your time on stuff that doesn’t actually make things better.”



One of the ways he does this is by eliminating as many meetings as he can.



“Excessive meetings are the blight of big companies and almost always get worse over time,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/elon-musks-productivity-rules-according-to-tesla-email.html" class="">the CEO shared in a letter to employees</a>&nbsp;regarding productivity in 2018<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/elon-musks-productivity-rules-according-to-tesla-email.html" class="">.</a>&nbsp;“Get rid frequent meetings, unless you are dealing with an extremely urgent matter.”



If you must have a meeting, Musk says “be certain [you are] providing value to the whole audience.” Musk also advises his employees to “walk out or drop off a call as soon as it is obvious you aren’t adding value.”



It’s not rude to leave meetings that are not providing any value, he says.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Jeff Bezos makes quick decisions</h2>



It’s important to make “high-quality, high-velocity” decisions, according to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. That’s because “speed matters in business,” he said&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/2016-letter-to-shareholders" class="">in his 2016 letter to shareholders</a>.



“Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70 percent of the information you wish you had. If you wait for 90 percent, in most cases, you’re probably being slow.”



In fact, whether you make the right decision can actually be less important than making one quickly, according to Bezos.



“Many decisions are reversible, two-way doors— for those, so what if you’re wrong?”



You need to be good at quickly correcting bad decisions, he said, but “if you’re good at course correcting, being wrong may be less costly than you think, whereas being slow is going to be expensive for sure.”



Amazon “is determined to keep our decision-making velocity high” not only because it’s important, said Bezos, but also because a “high-velocity decision making environment is more fun too.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Steve Jobs knew when to say ‘no’</h2>



<a href="https://resume.io/productivity-lessons-from-successful-founders" class="">As Resume.io points out</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/steve-jobs/" class="">Steve Jobs</a>&nbsp;believed a key to productivity is knowing<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/02/steve-jobs-heres-what-most-people-get-wrong-about-focus.html" class="">&nbsp;when to say “no</a>.”



“Focusing is about saying ‘no,’” the late Apple co-founder said during the company’s 1997 Worldwide Developers Conference.



“Focus means saying ‘no’ to the hundred other good ideas,”so you have decide what it makes sense to spend time and energy on, and what doesn’t, Jobs said.



In fact, billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/31/3-things-two-men-learned-from-their-650000-lunch-with-warren-buffett.html" class="">Warren Buffett shares Jobs’ mindset</a>, once saying “the difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Bill Gates sharpens his focus through meditation</h2>



Many successful people from Dorsey to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/bridgewater-associates-ray-dalio-meditation-is-key-to-my-success.html" class="">hedge fund</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/16/bridgewater-associates-ray-dalio-meditation-is-key-to-my-success.html" class="">billionaire Ray Dalio</a>&nbsp;make meditation part of their daily routine.



It is also one of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/bill-gates/" class="">Bill Gates</a>’ favorite productivity habits. “It’s a great tool for improving my focus,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/The-Headspace-Guide-to-Meditation-and-Mindfulness?WT.mc_id=12_03_2018_10_EOYBooks2018Headspace_BG-media_&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;WT.tsrc=BGmedia" class="">he said in his Gates Notes blog</a>&nbsp;in 2018.



“Meditation is simply exercise for the mind, similar to the way we exercise our muscles when we play sports,” he said.



The Microsoft co-founder, who meditates “two or three times a week, for about 10 minutes each time,” said that meditation teaches him “how to pay attention to the thoughts in my head, and [gain] a little bit of distance from them,” improving his concentration.



Gates <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/bill-gates-names-the-5-best-books-he-read-in-2018.html">suggests the book</a> “The Headspace Guide to Meditation and Mindfulness” by former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe, for anyone who’d like to get started meditating. 



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/productivity-tips-from-elon-musk-jeff-bezos-steve-jobs-and-more.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/productivity-tips-from-elon-musk-jeff-bezos-steve-jobs-and-more.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Productivity tips from billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and more

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/21/bill-gates-13-best-ted-talks-you-need-to-watch.html">Tom Popomaronis</a>



<a class="" href="https://www.ted.com/talks">TED Talks</a> are one of the best online resources for anyone who loves learning. I try to dedicate some time every week to watching a few of them. But there are so many good ones that it’s impossible to choose.



Luckily, I recently came across a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BillGates/photos/a.10150331291841961/10152060779241961/?type=1&amp;amp;theater" class="">2014</a>&nbsp;playlist of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/playlists/35/bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">Bill Gates’ favorite TED talks</a>. Naturally, I had to watch them all.



The Microsoft co-founder whittled down his favorites to 13 essentials. There’s a broad range of topics to digest in the videos. Some of them, like ones about <a class="" href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/what-we-do/global-development/polio">polio eradication</a> and <a class="" href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/US-Program/K-12-Education">fixing the education system</a>, are specific to Gates’ own interests.



But there’s one common thread throughout the videos: They’re all about how we can positively shape both ourselves and the world.Even if you aren’t interested in algorithms and robotics, there’s something for everyone here — and you’ll definitely finish the videos feeling smarter, wiser and more hopeful.



Here’s the complete list of Gates’ favorite TED talks, and what you can learn from each one:



1.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal#t-76874" class="">“The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen,”</a>&nbsp;by Hans Rosling



Putting a bunch of data together in a coherent and captivating way is a challenge. But Rosling, a physician and epidemiologist who died in 2017, was brilliant in his creative use of visual aids.



In this talk, which has been viewed more than 14 million times, the stats guru dispels common myths about the so-called “developing world” by zeroing in on global trends in health and economics.



The most fascinating part of the talk is Rosling’s stunning presentation technique — using interactive bubble charts, compelling data and an energetic speaking style, which has been likened to the “drama and urgency of a sportscaster.”



Even if global health economics isn’t your thing, “The Best Stats You’ve Ever Seen” will give you insight into how the use of stats, visualization and lively body language can shift perspectives.



2.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_specter_the_danger_of_science_denial?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“The Danger of Science Denial,”</a>&nbsp;by Michael Specter



Specter, a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of “Denialism,” explores why the world has increasingly begun to fear scientific advances, instead of embracing them.



“I don’t need to say this, but vaccines are essential,” he says in the talk. “You take them away, and disease comes back, horrible diseases. That’s happening. We have measles in this country now. And it’s getting worse.”



Specter does a great job using several examples — vaccine claims related to autism, “Frankenfood” bans, the herbal cure craze — to illustrate the public’s fear and denial of science and reason. His talk encouraged me, and hopefully many others, to reflect on the consequences of ignoring scientific consensus.



Another great takeaway: There’s nothing more powerful than the scientific method, which involves trying stuff out, seeing if it works and changing it when it doesn’t. As Specter says, “It’s one of the great accomplishments of humanity.”



3.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“The History of Our World in 18 Minutes,”</a>&nbsp;by David Christian



Christian, a historian who is specifically a scholar of Russian history, starts the talk by winding back to the beginning of time: 13.7 billion years ago.



“Around us, there’s nothing,” he says. “There’s not even time or space. Imagine the darkest, emptiest thing you can and cube it a gazillion times — and that’s where we are. And then suddenly, bang! A universe appears, an entire universe.”



If you’ve ever wanted to learn the complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the internet, in a less amount of time than a “Simpsons” episode, here’s your chance. Or, maybe you don’t care to learn about history at all. If that’s the case, watch it anyway.



I was at first skeptical about how long my attention span could last watching this video, but after a full 18 minutes, Specter made me realize that in order to understand the challenges and opportunities in front of us, we must first learn about the journey that got us here.



4.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/04/15/melinda-gates-fights-to-put-birth-control-on-the-global-agenda-and-save-childrens-lives/#429919652f16" class="">“Let’s Put Birth Control Back on the Agenda,”</a>&nbsp;by Melinda Gates



Since the moment it was introduced, contraception has been a controversial topic. But Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, believes many of the world’s social change issues depend on ensuring that women are able to control their rate of having kids.



In the talk, Gates tells the story of a young business woman she met in Nairobi, who made and sold backpacks out of her home. When asked why she chose to have only three children, the woman said, “I wouldn’t be able to run my business if I had another child.”



Her income afforded her just enough to provide an education to all three of her children. “This is the same mental calculus that hundreds of millions of men and women have gone through,” Gates explains. “They’re able to give their children more opportunities by exercising control over when they have them.”



The list of priorities for countries both rich and poor is a massive one, but this talk makes a compelling argument about how essential something like access to birth control is.



5.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_aylward_how_we_ll_stop_polio?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“How We’ll Stop Polio for Good,”</a>&nbsp;by Bruce Aylward



It’s not surprising to find this one on Gates’ list of favorites. Like Gates, Aylward, a Canadian physician and epidemiologist, is fighting to make a polio-free world.



Polio is almost completely eradicated, but as Aylward says in his talk, “Almost&nbsp;isn’t good enough with a disease this terrifying.” The disease, which affects mainly children, can cause paralysis, sometimes within a matter of hours, and death.



Aylward’s plan to continue the “scientific miracle” that ended polio in most parts of the world — and finally stop it for good — will inspire you to get the word out and encourage governments to keep their generosity up in helping to eradicate this horrible disease.



6.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/atul_gawande_how_do_we_heal_medicine?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“How Do We Heal Medicine?”</a>&nbsp;by Atul Gawande



Doctors are capable of extraordinary things, and we depend on them to keep us healthy. But Gawande, a doctor and writer, argues that in order to do their job effectively, they must take a step back and look at new ways to do medicine.



Doctors used to know everything (at least in their area of expertise) and do everything themselves; those days are over, says Gawande. Physicians need to work together, and a new system for that may be as simple as a checklist, or a new way of coaching one another.



And his point isn’t exclusive to physicians; it applies to all of us, no matter what field we’re in. As Gawande says, “We’ve come to a place where we have no choice but to recognize, as individualistic as we want to be, complexity requires group success. We all need to be pit crews now.”



7.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence/transcript?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal#t-1337790" class="">“The Surprising Decline in Violence,”</a>&nbsp;by Steven Pinker



Pinker, a professor of cognitive science, makes a bold claim in this talk: We are far less likely to die violently than members of any previous generation.



“Until 10,000 years ago, all humans lived as hunter-gatherers, without permanent settlements or government,” he says.



Pinker uses visuals to show the corresponding statistic from the U.S. and Europe in the 20th century, and includes all the deaths of both World Wars. “If the death rate in tribal warfare had prevailed during the 20th century,” he says, “there would have been 2 billion deaths rather than 100 million.”



While I don’t doubt his data, the statistics are hard to believe. Has violence really declined? If the answer is yes, then could this decline be reversed? And if the answer to&nbsp;that&nbsp;is yes, how can we prevent it? These are all important questions we must ask.



8.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/nathan_myhrvold_could_this_laser_zap_malaria?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“Could This Laser Zap Malaria?”</a>&nbsp;by Nathan Myhrvold



This was a fun and insightful one that I ended up watching twice. Myhrvold, who used to work at Microsoft, rolls out a live demonstration of a mosquito-zapping gizmo he and his team created.



It basically involves a “photonic fence” that uses lasers to track and obliterate disease-carrying mosquitoes. Of course, this talk was given nearly a decade ago, so it’s unclear how far Myhrvold’s invention got or where it is now.



His enthusiasm and obvious brilliance, however, are not only entertaining, but are also a simple reminder of how boldness and creativity can contribute to our efforts in tackling problems, big or small.



9.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“Let’s Use Video to Reinvent Education,”</a>&nbsp;by Salman Khan



If you’re not familiar with the Khan Academy, it’s a non-profit organization that provides a series of educational videos, in subjects like math, arts and humanity, and science.



Khan, a former hedge-fund analyst with degrees from MIT and Harvard, talks about how and why he created the Khan Academy. He also explains why interactive exercises through video are a key ingredient to humanizing the education system.



Not only can this help those in parts of the world with limited access to education, but it can also benefit the “adult learner, who’s embarrassed to go back and learn stuff they should have known before going back to college,” says Khan.



Gates, who moderates the talk, calls Khan’s efforts “amazing,” and an example of how technology can help create a more educated world.



10.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_demos_photosynth?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“How PhotoSynth Can Connect the World’s Images,”</a>&nbsp;by Blaise Agüera y Arcas



Engineer Agüera y Arcas gives a luminous demo of a PhotoSynth, a software originated from Microsoft Live Labs and the University of Washington.



PhotoSynth uses still photos culled from the Web to build breathtaking dreamscapes, and then lets users navigate them. (While Microsoft shut down the software in 2017, its features returned later that year within the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-brings-back-photosynth-in-its-pix-app-for-ios/" class="">Microsoft Pix app for iOS</a>.)



We’ve come a long way in using technology to connect the world’s images, but the real inspiration here is about all the things we can do with the social environment. “This is now taking data from everybody — from the entire collective memory, visually, of what the Earth looks like — and linking all of that together,” says Agüera y Arcas.



11.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/david_blaine_how_i_held_my_breath_for_17_min/transcript?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“How I Held My Breath for 17 Minutes,”</a>&nbsp;by David Blaine



“As a magician, I try to create images that make people stop and think,” Blaine says in the beginning of his talk. “I also try to challenge myself to do things that doctors say are not possible.”



One of those challenges: holding his breath for 17 minutes. I won’t give too much away (you’ll have to watch the video), but it involves meeting with a neurosurgeon, researching pearl divers and some major oxygen deprivation.



“I push through the pain to be the best that I can be,” Blaine says, as he gets a little emotional. “And that’s what magic is to me.”



Whether you’re a magician or not, he reminds us that with practice, training and lots of experimenting, you can do things that seem impossible.



12.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“The Power of Introverts,”</a>&nbsp;by Susan Cain



In a world that prizes extroverts, looking inward is a virtue, not a problem, argues Cain, author of the best-selling book, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking.”



Some of the most influential people in history were introverts, she says, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks and Gandhi.



“Introversion,” Cain explains, “is different from being shy. Shyness is about fear of social judgment. Introversion is more about how you respond to stimulation, including social stimulation.”



Extroverts crave large amounts of stimulation, whereas introverts feel at their “most capable” when they’re in quieter, more low-key environments. But the problem is that places like our schools and workplaces are designed mostly for extroverts.



Cain offers a number of suggestions for how we can create a better balance between the two types. It’s essential, she says, especially if we want to maximize&nbsp;all&nbsp;of our talents.



13.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate?referrer=playlist-bill_gates_my_13_favorite_tal" class="">“Robots That Fly &#8230; and Cooperate,”</a>&nbsp;by Vijay Kumar



Kumar, dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, gives an interesting lecture about something he and his team built: flying quadrotors, or small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other and form ad hoc teams. They can be used for construction, surveying disasters and far more.



He demonstrates the several features of the robot, which is built like a cross, with four rotors — each on an end of the cross pointed straight up. “You can send them inside buildings as first responders to look for intruders, maybe look for biochemical leaks [or they] can be used for construction and for transporting cargo,” Kumar says.



They can even be sent to collapsed buildings to assess the damage of disasters, he continues, or to map nuclear radiation levels after a nuclear accident. Even today, with all the advancements in the robotics industry, it’s amazing to watch and think about how far we’ve come.



<a class="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.linkedin.com_in_tpopomaronis_&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;m=P_Ys4FkTrXS6d3lDujeEcG0RASS_Te__ciXliHG8uo0&amp;s=rHzz9dkDjfkID7To9v-Lu83SKuT7yQyc4bQT7r89G-o&amp;e=">Tom Popomaronis</a> is a commerce expert, cross-industry innovation leader and Vice President of Innovation at <a class="" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.massivealliance.com&amp;d=DwMFaQ&amp;c=LO_8KzsOlAGvgA6hdGI4v02U_XLiES0sR51Zca0yIy4&amp;r=fnb6sKq7SKN8iiAQiVc8NQSbL93Ztb9TeGwNUoj2-0Y&amp;m=P_Ys4FkTrXS6d3lDujeEcG0RASS_Te__ciXliHG8uo0&amp;s=MAZG4XFe5vj2XGn8I5ATujLEG6mysjDhAM2R5QnyNpQ&amp;e=">Massive Alliance</a>. His work has been featured in Forbes, Fast Company and The Washington Post. In 2014, he was named one of the “40 Under 40” by the Baltimore Business Journal.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/21/bill-gates-13-best-ted-talks-you-need-to-watch.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/21/bill-gates-13-best-ted-talks-you-need-to-watch.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

These are Bill Gates’ 13 favorite TED talks—and they’ll make you feel smarter, wiser and more hopeful

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/tom-huddleston-jr/">Tom Huddleston Jr.</a>



Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are two of the most high-profile tech titans of the past century, and they also had a famously <a class="" href="https://fortune.com/2011/10/24/when-steve-met-bill-it-was-a-kind-of-weird-seduction-visit/">fierce rivalry</a> that evolved into a friendship based on <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/05/steve-jobs-untimely-death-taught-bill-gates-this-important-lesson.html">mutual respect</a> until Jobs passed away in 2011.



Gates, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft and the world’s second-wealthiest person, has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/07/bill-gates-says-jobs-was-a-wizard-in-getting-staff-to-keep-apple-alive.html" class="">praised</a>&nbsp;the Apple co-founder in the past for Jobs’ leadership qualities and his uncanny ability to motivate his employees. But, there is one specific trait of Jobs’ that Gates is still particularly envious of, Gates says in a new interview with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mind-of-bill-gates-revealed-on-netflix-11568107801" class="">The Wall Street Journal</a>.



The former Microsoft CEO talks about how he’s had to work hard to become a better public speaker throughout his career and admits that public speaking was one area where Jobs easily had him beat, according to the interview, published on Tuesday to promote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/how-bill-gates-brain-works-netflix-documentary.html" class="">the new Netflix documentary</a>&nbsp;on Gates’ life and career that premieres on Sept. 20.



“Steve Jobs was always more of a natural at that,” Gates tells WSJ about Jobs’ public speaking abilities, which Gates says allowed Jobs to sell people on any product, even a subpar one. “He could talk about what, in the case of NeXT Computer [his follow-up after being ousted from Apple], was not that good of a machine, yet mesmerize people to death if they happened to be in the auditorium.”



Gates goes on to say that he wishes he could emulate his former friend and rival in that regard, especially with respect to raising awareness for various&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/13/philanthropy-50-how-much-bezos-gates-zuckerberg-charities-gave-away.html" class="">philanthropic causes</a>&nbsp;that Gates and his wife,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/melinda-gates-reveals-how-she-negotiated-equality-in-her-marriage.html" class="">Melinda</a>, champion through their non-profit foundation.



“I wish I could be as magical because I have causes that are in some ways more impactful and I need to make sure they don’t get ignored,” Gates says in the interview, referring to the work the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation does to address global issues, from disease prevention research to fighting poverty.



Gates notes that “some things, like eradicating polio, are inherently inspiring,” but he still believes that Jobs’ ability to sell any product or idea would come in handy, even though Gates has worked to improve his public speaking over the years. (At least one billionaire CEO, Zoom founder Eric Yuan,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/18/zoom-ipo-bill-gates-speech-inspired-founder-to-move-to-us.html" class="">credits a Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;public speaking engagement from the 1990s for inspiring him to start an internet business.)



“I myself am not a preacher,” he says. “I’ve learned a little bit about public speaking, and how to articulate how to solve these problems over time. I’ve gotten OK on that in a certain sense.”



For what it’s worth, the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the world’s largest private philanthropic foundations, with an endowment of more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/who-we-are/general-information/foundation-factsheet" class="">$50 billion</a>. And, Gates and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, have also convinced hundreds of wealthy people to donate billions of dollars of their wealth to charity as part of their&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/31/14-billionaires-signed-bill-gates-and-warren-buffetts-giving-pledge.html" class="">Giving Pledge campaign</a>.



This isn’t the first time that Gates has praised Jobs’ ability to get people on board with his particular vision. Jobs had a way of “casting spells” to motivate his employees,&nbsp;<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/july-7-2019-how-to-lead-a-fareed-zakaria-gps-special/id377785090?i=1000443856975" class="">Gates told CNN</a>&nbsp;in a July interview.



“I was like a minor wizard because he would be casting spells, and I would see people mesmerized, but because I’m a minor wizard, the spells don’t work on me,” Gates said.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/12/steve-jobs-trait-bill-gates-envied-the-most.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/12/steve-jobs-trait-bill-gates-envied-the-most.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates says this is the Steve Jobs trait he envied the most

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/taylor-locke/">Taylor Locke</a> 



<a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/bill-gates/">Bill Gates</a>’ biggest fear is that his brain will “stop working.” That’s what Gates says in the upcoming three-part Netflix documentary“Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates.”



With the documentary, which drops Sept. 20, director and executive producer Davis Guggenheim aims to find out what goes on inside the mind of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/#57df5cba689f" class="">second richest man in the world</a>. But some things about how Gates’ brain works can be gleaned from the series short&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCv29JKmHNY" class="">trailer</a>, released Thursday.



Gates is a&nbsp;″multiprocessor” says his wife Melinda Gates in the trailer. “He will be reading something else but then processing at the same time. It’s chaos!” Melinda says.



Gates&nbsp;″thrives on complexity,” Melinda says. “He makes aframework in his mind, then he starts slotting in the information. If something doesn’t line up, he gets really frustrated.”



“It’s scary,” says Melinda.“But when Bill stills himself, he can pull ideas together that other people can’t see.”



The idea of having a “framework” is something Gates has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/21/how-bill-gates-remembers-what-he-reads.html" class="">talked about himself</a>.



When explaining how he remembers what he reads, Gates told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xwh88cI_d8" class="">Quartz</a>:“If you read enough, there’s a similarity between things that make it easy, because this thing is like this other thing. If you have a broad framework, then you have a place to put everything.”



“At first it is very daunting,” Gates told Quartz, “but then as you get the kind of scope, then all these pieces fit in.



“It’s fun to say, okay, this is where this belongs and does this contradict something I knew before? And I better look that up, I better figure it out.”



According to the documentary trailer, Gates looks at problems from usual angles, which allows him to innovate, and “he’s at his best when the deck is stacked against him” — skills that come in handy as he tries to tackle some of the world’s most difficult problems like disease and poverty.



In addition to giving a small glimpse into Gates’ thinking, the trailer for the documentary also gives away some fun facts: Gates’ favorite food is a hamburger, he doesn’t eat breakfast and dogs are his favorite animal.



<iframe loading="lazy" width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HBEDE1yLopw?start=1" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/how-bill-gates-brain-works-netflix-documentary.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/30/how-bill-gates-brain-works-netflix-documentary.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

This is how Bill Gates’ brain works

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/">Jade Scipioni</a> 



There are only about <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/07/forbes-there-are-a-record-2208-billionaires-in-the-world.html">2,200</a> billionaires in the world — or 0.0002% of planet’s population.



And&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/07/forbes-there-are-a-record-2208-billionaires-in-the-world.html" class="">67%</a>&nbsp;of those billionaires are self-made.



The members of that self-made group generally made their money in one of a few ways: they invented a useful product (think Bill Gates with Microsoft, whose net worth is around&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/">$107 billion</a>); they innovated a new way of solving a problem (think Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky, whose net worth is around&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/brian-chesky/#7feaad8944d3">$3.7 billion</a>); or they are savvy investors (think Warren Buffett, worth&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/">$87.3 billion</a>). Indeed, climbing the corporate ladder will rarely get you into the club (Tim Cook who runs nearly&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/history/">$1 trillion company</a>&nbsp;Apple, for example, is worth around&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-cook-net-worth-apple-ceo-2018-8">$625 million</a>).



But beyond sharp entrepreneurial and investing chops, self-made billionaires share some traits, according to according to Rafael Badziag, who interviewed 21 of them (including early Uber investor Tim Draper and InfoSpace and Viome founder Naveen Jain) for his book, “The Billion Dollar Secret.” Here are three of the top things they have in common, according to Badziag.



 1. They succeed no matter what the ‘weather’ is



Badziag says it’s clear why most of the general population (he calls them “drifters”) don’t succeed in life: They are waiting for conditions to be perfect before they strike, and often those ideal conditions never materialize so they don’t fully pursue their dreams.



“Self-made” billionaires, he says, are different. Most of the billionaires Badziag interviewed didn’t come from well-off families or ideal situations, but they pursued their dreams no matter the circumstances around them — no matter the “weather outside or inside,” he says.



Take for example, one of the billionaires Badziag interviewed: N.R. Narayana Murthy, who co-founded IT giant Infosys, which is valued at more than&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/INFY?p=INFY" class="">$45 billion</a>.



The 72-year-old, who is now worth as estimated <a class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/nr-narayana-murthy/#632698863e05">$2.4 billion</a>, grew up in India in ’50s and ’60s, a poor country that he says was one of the most hostile to free enterprise at the time. As a child, his family was so poor he had to sleep on the floor because they had no furniture.



But despite having no money, Murthy was eager to learn; he would go to the public library in town (he lived outside Karnataka) and read everything he could. From what he learned, Murthy believed software was the future, so in 1981 he and some colleagues got the idea to create a software company. But they didn’t have a computer, and at the time, the Indian government required a license to import one, he told Badziag. So for three years, Murthy back and forth to Dehli by train, 1,500 miles each way, making at least 50 visits to pitch officials on why he should be granted a license. With their computer and phone line (which he says took <a class="" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-12957104">a year</a> to procure), Murthy and his co-founders started Infosys and grew it from an operation with seven employees into a global business and one of the leading technology consulting companies in India.



 2. They don’t do it for the money



Most “drifters” are dying to have big incomes but never quite achieve a high net worth status, or if they do, they lose motivation when they have some good in money in bank, says Badziag. (He refers to it as “the gold digger’s trap.”)



However, Badziag found that the “self-made” billionaires he interviewed aren’t motivated by wealth. Instead, they “have a strong sense of purpose and passion for their work,” and are motivated by a desire to “to grow and learn no matter how big their bank accounts get,” he says.



As Apple founder Steve Jobs once famously said, “I was worth over a million dollars when i was 23 and over $10 million when I was 24, and over $100 million when I was 25. And it wasn’t that important, because I never did it for the money.” Jobs said he started Apple with a simple vision of trying to create a “<a class="" href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197538">computer in the hands of everyday people</a>. ” and they ended up succeeding beyond they wildest dreams.



Murthy told Badziag he was driven by the belief that the only way to solve the problem of poverty was “through the creation of jobs with good incomes and that entrepreneurship was the best instrument for such a solution.”



And French-Syrian businessman Mohed Altrad, who made his now&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mohed-altrad/#2c128ff45057" class="">$2.7 billion</a>&nbsp;fortune by acquiring a scaffolding company in France in 1985 and growing it into the industrial services giant&nbsp;<a href="https://www.altrad.com/en/home.html" class="">Altrad Group</a>, told Badziag that he doesn’t view money as an objective.



“It’s one of the signs of success. The success of the organization is to be sustainable, in which people are happy, in which humanity finds its foundation,” Altrad said.



 3. They are frugal



“Drifters” love spending money, according to Badziag, often going into debt to spend even more than they have. Even successful people are prone to showcasing their wealth via cars, expensive clothes and lavish vacations.



But the billionaires Badziag interviewed were different: They “get pleasure making money, but don’t enjoy spending it,” he says.



Take for example, Warren Buffett, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/" class="">fourth-richest person</a>&nbsp;in the world with a net worth of around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/" class="">$87.3 billion</a>. Despite his massive wealth, the 88-year-old still lives in the same modest Omaha house he purchased in 1958 for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-modest-home-bought-31500-looks-2017-6" class="">$31,500</a>&nbsp;(which is around $277,00 in today’s dollars). He also keeps his breakfast budget low, only spending around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/18/warren-buffett-buys-breakfast-from-mcdonalds-for-under-3-point-17.html" class="">$3.17</a>&nbsp;a day at McDonald’s to get one of three items: two sausage patties, a sausage, egg and cheese or a bacon, egg and cheese.



And Peter Hargreaves, the founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the UK’s largest financial services businesses, told Badziag a few years back that he was still driving an eight-year-old Toyota Prius. Hargreaves’ net worth is estimated at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/peter-hargreaves/#147ef4b8691c" class="">$4.2 billion</a>.



Hargreaves also told Badziag that his children were frugal too. ”[My kids] drive very modest cars; they both have a car that’s seven years old. They both have quite modest flats. And if they go on holiday, they go with their mates, and they go to the back of the plane,” Hargreaves said.



Of course, some billionaires adjust to their level of wealth. For example, though Bill Gates is famous for wearing a <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/28/two-popular-items-bill-gates-refuses-to-spend-a-lot-of-money-on.html">$10 watch</a>, he recently <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/why-bill-gates-younger-self-would-be-disgusted-with-him-today.html">admitted</a> that he also indulges: “Now I take lots of vacation. My 20-year-old self is so disgusted with my current self. You know, I was sure I would never fly anything but coach and you know, now I have a plane,” Gates said last <a class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&amp;amp=&amp;amp=&amp;amp=&amp;v=W5g4sPi1wd4">month</a> at a Village Global event.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/02/self-made-billionaires-have-these-traits-in-common.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/02/self-made-billionaires-have-these-traits-in-common.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

3 traits self-made billionaires have in common, according to a guy who interviewed 21 of them

By<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/"> Jade Scipioni</a> 



In 1975, at the age of 19,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/bill-gates-says-his-biggest-mistake-was-not-beating-google-on-android.html?forYou=true" class="">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;dropped out of his sophomore year at Harvard to launch Microsoft with his buddy Paul Allen.



Gates worked weekends and never took vacation in his 20s to get the company off the ground. And it worked. Today, Microsoft is valued at more than&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT/" class="">$1 trillion</a>&nbsp;and Gates is the second richest man in the world with a net worth of around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/william-h-gates/" class="">$107 billion</a>&nbsp;(just $12 billion shy of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ fortune of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/jeffrey-p-bezos/" class="">$119 billion</a>).



“It really is true that I didn’t believe in weekends; I didn’t believe in vacations,” Gates told Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&amp;amp;amp=&amp;amp;v=W5g4sPi1wd4" class="">Thursday</a>&nbsp;at a Village Global event.



Gates was at the office so much that he knew the license plates of everyone who worked for him, and he would see what time they would come and go and therefore how many hours his employees were putting in.&nbsp;



“Microsoft was a high-stress environment because Bill drove others as hard as he drove himself,” Gates’ co-founder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/paul-allen/" class="">Allen</a>&nbsp;wrote in a 2011 article for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2011/05/paul-allen-201105" class="">Vanity Fair</a>. “He was growing into the taskmaster who would prowl the parking lot on weekends to see who’d made it in.”



Gates’ spy tactics and often intense office demeanor during the company’s prime years in the late ’80s and ’90s famously earned him the reputation as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/advice-microsoft-billionaire-bill-gates-would-give-his-younger-self.html" class="">office bully</a>, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/young-bill-gates-was-an-angry-office-bully" class="">GQ.</a>



However, once he got into his 30s — and started dating his now-wife&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2019/06/14/melinda-gates-the-best-advice-warren-buffett-gave-me.html" class="">Melinda</a>&nbsp;— he said he began to relax a bit and started taking time off, which helped him tone it down.



“Now I take lots of vacation. My 20-year-old self is so disgusted with my current self. You know, I was sure I would never fly anything but coach and you know, now I have a plane,” Gates said.



He refers to the change of heart as a “counter revelation” and he said he can’t imagine working to those extremes today.



“I don’t recommend it and I don’t think most people would enjoy it,” he said.



However, he said he still believes that hard work is essential during the early years of building a business, especially if you want it to become something great.



“You’ll have individuals who have, you know, health or relatives or things that [distract them]. But yes, I have a fairly hardcore view that there should be a very large sacrifice made during those early years&#8230;.” he said.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/why-bill-gates-younger-self-would-be-disgusted-with-him-today.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/why-bill-gates-younger-self-would-be-disgusted-with-him-today.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Why Bill Gates says his 20-year-old self would be ‘so disgusted’ with him today

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/jade-scipioni/">Jade Scipioni</a>



You might assume that as the second richest person in world with a net worth of <a class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/">$107 billion</a>, Bill Gates doesn’t have a lot of <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/bill-gates-this-is-a-great-way-to-use-your-tech-skills.html">regrets</a>. But there is a big one that still eats away at him, he says.



Gates admitted his “greatest mistake ever” was allowing Google to develop Android — one of Apple’s biggest smartphone competitors — before Microsoft could develop a competing mobile operating system, he told Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&amp;amp;v=W5g4sPi1wd4" class="">Thursday</a>&nbsp;at a Village Global event.



“That was a natural thing for Microsoft to win,” he said.



Gates said he blames his own poor “mismanagement,” since he didn’t guide his team to jump on the opportunity. He also partially blames Microsoft’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/technology/antitrust-tech-microsoft-lessons.html" class="">antitrust problems</a>&nbsp;in the early 2000′s for allowing Google to get ahead.



Google moved on mobile shortly after Apple did, when it acquired Android in 2005. Google later released it first Android device in September 2008, a little more than a year after Apple released its first iPhone on June 29,&nbsp;<a href="https://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/14/exclusive-android-docs-reveal-before-iphone-googles-plan-was-a-java-button-phone" class="">2007</a>.



“These are winner-takes-all markets. So the greatest mistake ever is whatever mismanagement I engaged in that caused Microsoft not to be what Android is,” he said.



Gates added that there is now only room for one “non-Apple” operating system, and that market is worth $400 billion, he said.



He added that if Microsoft would have “got that one right,” Microsoft would be the top technology company in the game right now.



“We would be&nbsp;the&nbsp;company. But oh well, ” he said.



Despite Gates’ blunder, Microsoft still currently has the highest market cap of the contenders at&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/MSFT?p=MSFT&amp;amp;.tsrc=fin-srch" class="">$1 trillion</a>; Apple currently has a market cap of&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL?p=AAPL&amp;amp;.tsrc=fin-srch" class="">$918 billion</a>, with Alphabet Inc. (the conglomerate which owns Google since 2015) coming in at&nbsp;<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GOOG/" class="">$776 billion</a>.



“It’s amazing to me, having made one of the greatest mistakes of all time&#8230;our other assets — Windows, Office — are still very strong. So we are a leading company,” he said.



Correction: This story has been revised to correct that Google acquired Android in 2005.



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/bill-gates-says-his-biggest-mistake-was-not-beating-google-on-android.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/24/bill-gates-says-his-biggest-mistake-was-not-beating-google-on-android.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates reveals his ‘greatest mistake’ that potentially cost Microsoft $400 billion

By <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/kathleen-elkins/">Kathleen Elkins</a>



Warren Buffett is anything but average: The legendary investor has an approximate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/#19540ea74639" class="">net worth of $82 billion</a>, making him the third richest person in the world. At 88, he still runs Berkshire Hathaway, his holding company that owns businesses like Geico, Dairy Queen and See’s Candies.



A key to Buffett’s extraordinary success, though, is a refreshingly simple habit and “something anyone can do,” his longtime friend Bill Gates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/About-Bill-Gates/Grilling-and-chilling-with-Warren-Buffett?WT.mc_id=06_01_2019_00_BerkshireHathaway2019_BG-EM_&amp;amp;WT.tsrc=BGEM" class="">pointed out in a recent blog post</a>: He reads every day.



Buffett, who spends between <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/15/warren-buffett-and-mark-cuban-agree-reading-is-key-to-success.html">five and six hours a day paging through books</a> and newspapers, finds it “enjoyable to think about business and investment problems,” he says in HBO’s documentary <a class="" href="http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/becoming-warren-buffett">“Becoming Warren Buffett.”</a>



Plus, staying up to date on business news and current events is a relatively simple way to gain a competitive advantage. “Everybody can read what I read. It is a level playing field,” Buffett used to tell his late wife,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/6-influential-people-in-billionaire-investor-warren-buffetts-life.html" class="">Susan Buffett</a>, according to the HBO documentary.



“And he loves that because he is competitive,” Susan said of Buffett. “He’s sitting there all by himself in his office, reading these things that everybody else can read, but he loves the idea that he is going to win.”



Tech entrepreneur and self-made billionaire Mark Cuban is also an avid reader and has used the habit to get ahead in his career. He recognized the value that reading could return early in his career, while building his first technology business, MicroSolutions.



“I remember reading the PC DOS manual (I really did), and being proud that I could figure out how to set up startup menus for my customers,” he writes&nbsp;<a href="http://blogmaverick.com/2011/04/07/shark-tank-success-motivation/" class="">on his blog.</a>&nbsp;“I read every book and magazine I could. Heck, $3 for a magazine, $20 for a book. One good idea that led to a customer or solution and it paid for itself many times over.”



“Everything I read was public,” he adds. “Anyone could buy the same books and magazines. The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.”



For Cuban, taking the time to “get a knowledge advantage” helped him outperform competitors, he says. “A guy with little computer background could compete with far more experienced guys, just because I put in the time to learn all I could.”



This article first appeared on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/bill-gates-this-is-the-key-to-warren-buffetts-success.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/03/bill-gates-this-is-the-key-to-warren-buffetts-success.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates: A key to Warren Buffett’s success is ‘something anyone could do’

<div style="display: block; position: relative; max-width: 730px;">
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;" src="//players.brightcove.net/1571595826001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6033711445001" allowfullscreen="" border=0 frameborder=0></iframe></div>
</div>
Three of the biggest names in business sat down for an exclusive with CNBC&#8217;s Becky Quick to discuss the future of global healthcare initiatives. Billionaire Bill Gates began with the latest in vaccine technology. He was joined by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett.

Buffett, Gates & Munger on the future of global healthcare initiatives

<div style="display: block; position: relative; max-width: 730px;">
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%;"><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; left: 0px;" src="//players.brightcove.net/1571595826001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6033402468001" allowfullscreen="" border=0 frameborder=0></iframe></div>
</div>
Three of the biggest names in the global business pool sat down to discuss how the market is moving at the hands of global political risks. Billionaire Bill Gates gave his insights on the possibility of the Federal Reserve keeping its interest rates unmoved. He was joined by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett for a discussion with CNBC&#8217;s Becky Quick.

Buffett, Gates & Munger on the effects of global political risks on markets

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/david-neagle/">By David Neagle</a>



Behind every&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">successful entrepreneur</a>&nbsp;is a list of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">books</a>&nbsp;that have helped them navigate the intricacies of running a business and living a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/05/amazon-billionaire-ceo-jeff-bezos-ask-yourself-these-12-questions-to-live-a-long-happy-life.html" class="">victorious life</a>.



While more recent books like Phil Knight’s&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Phil_Knight_Shoe_Dog?id=wO3PCgAAQBAJ" class="">“Shoe Dog,”</a>&nbsp;Ray Dalio’s<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Ray_Dalio_Principles?id=6LGuDgAAQBAJ" class="">“Principles”</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/20/simon-sinek-these-2-life-changing-books-will-train-your-brain-for-success.html" class="">Simon Sinek’s</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/info/name/Simon_Sinek?id=02r9pqc" class="">“Start with Why”</a>&nbsp;stand out as a few favorites of top CEOs,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">Warren Buffett and Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;both agree that the best business book of all time was written 50 years ago.



When the two billionaires first met back in 1991, Gates asked Buffett to recommend his favorite business book. Without missing a beat, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO answered:&nbsp;<a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ZMPTAwAAQBAJ&amp;amp;gl=us&amp;amp;source=productsearch&amp;amp;utm_source=HA_Desktop_US&amp;amp;utm_medium=SEM&amp;amp;utm_campaign=PLA&amp;amp;pcampaignid=MKTAD0930BO1&amp;amp;gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyfzFlo_I4QIVm4izCh2lOwesEAQYAiABEgKg4_D_BwE&amp;amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" class="">“Business Adventures”</a>&nbsp;by John Brooks, then said he would send his copy to Gates.



“More than two decades after Warren lent it to me — and more than four decades after it was first published — ‘Business Adventures’ remains the best business book I’ve ever read. John Brooks is still my favorite business writer,” Gates&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Business-Adventures" class="">wrote in his blog</a>&nbsp;back in 2014. (He cheekily added, “And Warren, if you’re reading this, I still have your copy.”)It stands the test of time



“Business Adventures” is a compilation of 12 stories — previously published in The New Yorker, where Brooks was a staff writer — about some of the most important events in 20th Century corporate America. Each profile is a fascinating account of how a certain moment in history shaped an entire company.



But what truly makes the book so brilliant (apart from its wonderful prose) is that it can appeal to readers who aren’t even interested in the nature of finance. It offers a goldmine of lessons about people and life — our instinctive behaviors, what makes us excel and what troubles lie ahead if we give into our inherent savageries.



Here are most essential life lessons from “Business Adventures”:



1. When you become blind to change, you become obsolete.



In his book, Brooks writes about one of Ford Motor Company’s biggest failures: the 1958 <a class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-flop-bill-gates-favorite-case-studies-2014-7">Ford Edsel</a>, which the automaker had intended to be the “new and ultimate” car for middle-class Americans. Brooks notes that Ford wanted to make a car that fit the needs of the American public, so it polled the population to see what they wanted most.



Ford was dissatisfied with the poll results and ended up going its own way. Eager to create hype, it began marketing the car one year before it was even completed. And on launch day, the model was delivered with oil leaks and trunks that wouldn’t open. It was also mocked as being too expensive and using up too much gas.



When you stop paying attention to the evolving changes of society and human needs, you fall behind and become vulnerable to competitors.



2. Failure isn’t a bad thing — accept it, learn from it, and move on from it.



The big Edsel flop led to a $350 million loss. And yet, Ford’s executives took zero responsibility for their failures. In fact, they claimed to have done everything right.



While writing the story, Brooks said a marketing manager told him it was the customers who were at fault. “What they’d been buying for several years encouraged the industry to build exactly this kind of car,” the representative said. “We gave it to them, and they wouldn’t take it. Well, they shouldn’t have acted like that. And now the public wants these little beetles. I don’t get it!”



People often think,&nbsp;If I fail, I will lose something very important&nbsp;— like getting into a good college, working at (or starting) a great company, getting a promotion, making lots of money and so on. But learning from our mistakes is one of the greatest tools for learning; it gives us information on what we need to do differently to succeed in life.



3. Never underestimate the importance of company culture and values.



This is a powerful lesson for anyone — whether you’re a founder, manager, employee or job seeker.



Brooks describes Xerox founder Joseph C. Wilson as being ahead of his time in the ’60s because of how he prioritized building a compassionate work culture. He made it his duty to donate millions of dollars to charities and universities. He implemented progressive hiring policies during the civil rights movement.



“To set high goals, to have almost unattainable aspirations, to imbue people with the belief that they can be achieved&#8230;these are as important as the balance sheet, perhaps more so,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/media/features/books/Bill_Gates_John_Brooks_Business_Adventures_Xerox_Free_Chapter_eReader.pdf" class="">Wilson said once</a>&nbsp;according to Brooks.



Today, more than ever, employees value unity and purpose in a company — and they’re not afraid to quit or reject a job offer from a company with a bad reputation. Having good company culture will likely lead to higher productivity and motivation, fewer employee health issues and less turnover.



Keep this in mind as well if you’re a job seeker. Joining a company with poor culture won’t keep you happy in the long run.If you haven’t read the book&#8230;



Millennials weren’t born when Brooks’ classic first hit shelves in 1969. (Heck, their parents were barely out of grade school.) But every young and driven person should read “Business Adventures” if they want to deepen their expertise, excel in their ever-evolving careers and thrive in life.



This article was first published by CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/why-billionaires-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-this-is-the-best-business-book-of-all-time.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/11/why-billionaires-warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-this-is-the-best-business-book-of-all-time.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Bill Gates

Novavax begins mid-stage study of COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa

Billionaire Bill Gates: 6 movies and TV shows to help relieve pandemic stress

The business book billionaire Bill Gates wants you to read right now

Bill Gates: ‘I wish I had done more’ to warn world about pandemic danger

Bill Gates: This book was so good, ‘I stayed up with it until 3 a.m.’—then gifted it to 50 friends

Bill Gates has a brilliant method for making decisions—and he says it’s ‘similar to Warren Buffett’s’

Productivity tips from billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and more

These are Bill Gates’ 13 favorite TED talks—and they’ll make you feel smarter, wiser and more hopeful

Bill Gates says this is the Steve Jobs trait he envied the most

This is how Bill Gates’ brain works

3 traits self-made billionaires have in common, according to a guy who interviewed 21 of them

Why Bill Gates says his 20-year-old self would be ‘so disgusted’ with him today

Bill Gates reveals his ‘greatest mistake’ that potentially cost Microsoft $400 billion

Bill Gates: A key to Warren Buffett’s success is ‘something anyone could do’

Buffett, Gates & Munger on the future of global healthcare initiatives

Buffett, Gates & Munger on the effects of global political risks on markets

Billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates agree this 1969 classic is still the best business book of all time—here’s why

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Bill Gates

Novavax begins mid-stage study of COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa

Billionaire Bill Gates: 6 movies and TV shows to help relieve pandemic stress

The business book billionaire Bill Gates wants you to read right now

Bill Gates: ‘I wish I had done more’ to warn world about pandemic danger

Bill Gates: This book was so good, ‘I stayed up with it until 3 a.m.’—then gifted it to 50 friends

Bill Gates has a brilliant method for making decisions—and he says it’s ‘similar to Warren Buffett’s’

Productivity tips from billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and more

These are Bill Gates’ 13 favorite TED talks—and they’ll make you feel smarter, wiser and more hopeful

Bill Gates says this is the Steve Jobs trait he envied the most

This is how Bill Gates’ brain works

3 traits self-made billionaires have in common, according to a guy who interviewed 21 of them

Why Bill Gates says his 20-year-old self would be ‘so disgusted’ with him today

Bill Gates reveals his ‘greatest mistake’ that potentially cost Microsoft $400 billion

Bill Gates: A key to Warren Buffett’s success is ‘something anyone could do’

Buffett, Gates & Munger on the future of global healthcare initiatives

Buffett, Gates & Munger on the effects of global political risks on markets

Billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates agree this 1969 classic is still the best business book of all time—here’s why

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletters